A Supersonic Water Table for Rapid Turbine Prototyping

Testing new designs for jet engine turbines is no walk in the park, but Purdue University researchers have come up with a solution: A water table that simulates supersonic flow. Watch this video to see how the team creates 2D representations of an airfoil, puts them in the water, instantly sees the results, and then uses that analysis to refine the airfoil design.

“We can now easily experiment with different geometries for turbine blades,” said Guillermo Paniagua , Professor of Mechanical Engineering, whose research at Zucrow Labs focuses on turbines and propulsion. “We create 2D representations of an airfoil, put them in the water, instantly see the results, and then use that analysis to refine the airfoil design.”